Look What I'm Playing with...Knitters Loom!

Oh how I adore funky chunky art yarns.  I've been spinning art yarn for a few years and have been wanting to find ways to showcase them as art instead of knitting them into a functional piece.  So you can imagine my elation at receiving a gorgeous knitters loom at Christmas.  I've been eyeing this thing for awhile and I am super excited that it's finally in my home.  I got a chance to start playing with it this week, and it's everything I hoped it would be.  It's super easy to warp, super easy to use, and totally compact so I can hide it behind the table when I am not using it (saving my work from curious sticky fingers).  It's made to handle the larger diameters of yarn, so I can finally use all my funky stuff and make wall art out of them.  Here's a few pics of me warping the loom and getting ready to start.

 A Mischievous Yarn Thief.  He was creating "scenes" with his Disney Cars characters and apparently my yarn ball made the perfect addition to the story.  I wish I could see into his imagination sometimes. It seems so magical.

I cant wait to create something out of this skein!  I'll post pics as soon as its done.  What was your favorite artsy Christmas gift this year? 

XO, HARMONY

Baby Love: The 8 Month Update

Ok here it is.... time for a baby update :)  I am no longer able to ignore it.  I have reached the point where I am constantly aware that I am pregnant.  Everything I do takes more effort, more time, more focus.  I can no longer multitask, as I can barely remember all the details of one task let alone the several I used to easily balance.  My feet are gone, hidden under this belly of mine, and the inner kicks and turns that were so sweet a few months ago are now annoying and painful.  Even my "maternity" clothes are feeling tight and less comfortable, and I can no longer be bothered to get dressed out of my PJs unless I really really have to.  Sleeping is hard, hard to breathe, hard to stay comfortable, hard to stop thinking about all the things that still need to be done.  Oh and I am hot and sweating all the time...and all of this is dwarfed by the fact that I have a very active three year old constantly by my side.

I had sort of forgotten what the last 2 months can be like, or maybe I blocked it out.  I am not a very good pregnant girl.  I dont enjoy the extra attention, and I really just get more irritated by the physical limitations of my state than excited about all the extra food and naps I get to have.  I know there are women out there that really love the experience of being pregnant.  I am just not one of them.

At least I only have 8 more weeks of this.  8 more weeks until we meet this new little guy.  I am really excited to meet him, to hold him, introduce him to his big brother and awesome dad, and to find out if God has finally blessed me with one of those "great sleepers" I hear so much about from other moms.  We literally just pulled out the bins of baby stuff last night that we packed away from our first son and are finally sorting through clothes and toys and assessing what we still need to get.  I was starting to panic for a bit there when I realized I was more prepared for my craft show in October than I was for the birth of my second son happening just 3 weeks after that.  So I am slowly making progress on both fronts, realizing that I wont be as prepared for either as I want to be, or even as prepared as I had been before.  Just for funsies, here's me 3.5 years ago with 2 months left to go... overly prepared and anxiously waiting our first son's arrival.

 Of course, at that time I thought I was huge and completely exhausted and totally not prepared.   Little did I know that I'd get bigger the second time around, I would now kill for the level of exhaustion I was dealing with then, and I had everything I needed in that moment to be a good mother.  I have everything I need to be a good second time mom now too.  For I know that even if we dont have everything we want/need in place when he arrives, this little boy will be very very loved and that is the most perfect beginning to life I can give him.  We can scramble for the rest of it as we need to.  So, I am not letting the stress of a too busy life wear me down, as I look forward to all the squishy sweet moments like this so soon to come...

And I welcome all the chaos, exhaustion, distraction, and oodles of fun that two of these little guys will bring my life...

XO, HARMONY

Blooms and Roofs: A Color Study

I've been experimenting in my sketchbook lately exploring color and pattern, working up the nerve to do some serious fabric design on my newly purchased canvas cloth.  I started with some loose sketching of flowers layered on top of each other on one page and then a repetitive pattern of house doodles on the opposite page.  I really wanted to play more with using bright colors against soft hues.  I watered down some simple craft paint and started to play.  Here are a few peeks of what I created in the end.

Dont they remind you of crisp autumn leaves against a sunset sky?  As I was painting the houses, I started to imagine a story about little costumed ghosts and princesses going trick or treating door to door.  Do they inspire you to try a bit of fall inspired art making of your own?  If you'd like to try working with this color palette, I made it super simple for you.  I isolated the colors that I created with and made a digital palette just for you!

As soon as I completed my pages, I left the room and my 3 year old son snuck in and picked up his own creative inspiration on the next page.  I was able to catch him on tape and interview him a bit on his process.  If you have a child, a childlike heart, or maybe need a bit more childishness in your creative world, I highly recommend that you spend the next 2 minutes letting him inspire you.

XO, HARMONY

Even A Three Year Old Can Do It: Painted Fabric Video

The weekend has begun! I hope that you are safe and sound and enjoying your favorite morning cup of whatever getting lots of creative inspiration for your days off.  I wanted to offer you a bit of fun, energy, and lots and lots of color today! (oh and a bit of rock and roll)  So for your viewing pleasure, here's my latest episode of Creative Play with my 3 year old son.

I needed to design some fabric for a project I will be showing you later next week, and it seemed like a perfect mommy and son art-tivity.  We taped a piece of white muslin to a plastic table, grabbed a couple of sharpies (BTW: Under 5yrs + permanent markers typically demands being outside to avoid the "accidental" inspiration on your walls).

Then when our fabric was entirely covered in our creations, we watered down cheap-o craft paint and did a watercolor play over the design.  The effect was gorgeous, lots of pretty mixing of color.  There was seriously no way to screw it up, which made it PERFECT for little helping hands.  When it was finished we hung it up to dry and Voila, ready to use fabric for lots of projects.

 There it is drying with the sunshine coming through, so pretty.  While it was drying, I started gathering up laundry to start a wash since we were already playing outside, and my son starts yelling "Mommy!" "MOMMY!" like something was wrong (but honestly right now, every bit of information he has to share is urgent to him, regardless of the reality).  I poked my head out and asked what he needed.  "Mommy! (still yelling like it's very serious) It's PRETTY! I LIKE IT!" pointing at our creation.  Sometimes he totally kills me with cuteness.

(FYI: This fabric is NOT washable, so you cant use it in wearable art.  To make it washable use fabric markers and watered fabric paint and then heat set).  I hope I've inspired you to try to try this project by yourself or with a little helper the next time you need interesting fabric for a project.

BTW: If you didnt see my post yesterday, right now I am on the hunt for some artsy/crafty/creative bloggin people that I can team up with, more information HERE.  Have a wonderful Saturday!

XO, HARMONY

Make This! Your Own Artsy Tape

If you are anything like me, you drool over all the gorgeous new lines of colored and patterned japanese (washi) tapes that are blowing up the crafting scene these days.  I would love to own tons of them in every sort that is sold, but I just cant bring myself to spend the $5-10 per small roll that they cost.  There are so many different fun uses for them, and I knew there just had to be a way to make my own for such projects.  Here is my version of making artsy tape, and in my opinion, they turned out so much more interesting and fun than the manufactured version. 

 Gather these materials: Freezer Paper (regular wax paper will also work, but is harder to peel off), Paint (no need for expensive stuff, get the cheap craft stuff), Paint Brush, Scissors, Masking Tape (of whatever width you like.  I had the wide roll on hand but you may want to try the thinner version as well), lots of other fun art making supplies (whatever you have on hand that you like working with.  I chose a sharpie, hand carved stamps with stamping ink, water color pencils, roller, distress ink, and vintage papers.

Tape down a sheet of freezer paper, waxy side up, and start adding strips of masking tape to it.

Add some pretty paint colors and paint a thin layer over each.

A cute helper is always better :)

When the paint is dry, start adding your decorations.  This batch I did with my 3 year old so it's a bit messy, but when they were all done, they actually looked really cool!  So dont worry about it turning out messy looking.

Here are a few other ones I did without my overly exuberant helper.  From left to right, the techniques I used were: bubble wrap stamped, handcarved stamp, stencil overlay, another handcarved stamp, oil stick drawing, and the last two are collaged with vintage papers using regular craft glue.

Then carefully remove your tape strips from the original paper and move to a clean sheet of freezer paper.

You can just roll up the sheets like that to store away for another project day, or you can cut them down like I did so that they are ready to use.  Dont forget to leave yourself a bit of paper tab on the ends to help you get started when peeling off for use.

There are so many fun ways you can use tape like this.  I used mine today to decorate some mailers to send to a friend.  How fun are they!? Who wouldnt love to receive a happy package that looks like this?

What other sorts of ways can you think of to use artsy tape?  I saw this blog post recently that was full of creative DIY Washi Tape Projects, and it's definitely worth checking out.  Also, you can come back tomorrow for my Art Journal Post, and see how I used them in my latest page creations.  I do hope that this inspires you to try it yourself, and that all your tape using is colorful from now on!

XO, HARMONY

Try It! A New Perspective in an Instant

The mommy-son team has been at it again.  Last night, right before bath time for my 3 year old, he asks me if we can color together.  Who am I to deny a creative inspiration moment for a silly thing like a bedtime routine?  So we pulled out a large piece of illustration board and my tray of soft pastels and had a glorious time!  Such a mess, such fun, I love those moments with him and am really aware that I have only 3 more months of just he and I before we add another set of tiny hands to our world.  When we finished and headed towards the tub, we had really started something interesting (it went way beyond pastel sticks at this point).  I had recently heard a tip for visualizing a piece differently by cropping into different areas and getting a new ideas from those details for a direction for the entire piece.  Since I had no real thought or idea for this work, I thought I would try it. 

I am officially in love with this technique for seeing things differently.  I totally know where I want to go with this painting now.  Try this sometime.  Take something that you are working on and need inspiration for, photograph it, and then crop into different areas and blow the images up! Instant New Perspective!

FYI: Just a reminder that there are only 2 more days to enter my giveaway for 3 hand stitched hoops, and I'd love to get more people a chance to take these little cuties home.  Click on the button in the top right corner to enter.

XO, HARMONY

The 5,4,3,2,1 of My Creative Process

I saw this profile series first on Mollie Johanson's blog Wild Olive.  Its a simple set of 5 questions about yourself and your craft, started by the super creative people at Craftzine.  I thought I would add my own 5,4,3,2,1 to the fun and so here goes...

One Product You Are Particularly Proud Of
The Magic Dinosaur painting that I did with my 3 year old son.  I could never sell the original, I love it so.  To me it completely embodies his playful spirit, the innocence of childhood, and the simple beauty that can be created when you let go of your expectations and free yourself. 

Two Mistakes You Made In the Past
1.  Putting too much pressure on myself to be an instant success as an artist selling on Etsy.  I  started to feel like it was a reflection of my talent as an artist when months would go by with no sales.  I wanted to give up and forget that I even tried.  I was painting and creating constantly worried whether it would sell, and it was just totally wrong for me and my creative process.  Lesson learned: create only from your heart and never your head.

2.  Not understanding what a non-juried "art/craft" show could be like before I bought a table space for an event.  Oh man!  Nothing prepares you for trying to sell your handmade wares that you slaved and sweated over and poured your heart into positioned in between wholesale sellers (you know those people selling off-brand purses and hawking low-priced cologne).  It was a very disheartening weekend of sitting alone in my booth full of my creativity, while customers shopped for deals on either side of me.  Lesson learned: Do Your Research!  Just because it says it's an arts and crafts show, does not mean that only artist and crafters will be there.

Three Things That Make Your Work Unique
1.  Pairing bright bold colors with Natural ones.  I just adore the juxtaposition of a totally unnatural color, like neon pink or bright teal with a dark natural green or a mustard yellow.

2.  Mixing the textures of sewing, fabric, paper, and paint to create my paintings.  I love the soft and hard mediums working together to make something really beautiful and interesting.

3.  Not being afraid to try something new in my mixed media: I love grabbing bits of whatever I can find around me when I paint to add into the composition.  You never know what you might find hiding in the paint layers.

Four Tools You Love to Use
1. Brightly colored oil sticks - these suckers will draw in wet paint!

2. Hand Carved Stamps to build a background

3. Vintage Papers and Photos - I stock up on old books at library book sales, shop flea markets, and raid my relatives' attics at any opportunity to find vintage materials

4. Distress Ink Pads - love this product! I want to own every color they sell.  Right now I have the linen, aged photo, and lipstick colors and I use them on everything to create depth and make something new look vintage.

Five Inspirations
1.  My Son!  I love to watch him draw and paint.  His freedom and playfulness with what he creates inspires to me no end to be more like that in my own process.

2.  Art Books.  I am obsessed with collecting art books of all kinds.  Modern, classic, abstract, photography, painting, paper arts, sculpture, you name it I have some of it on my shelf.  When I am needing a creative idea, I look through one of my books and get inspired by the master works of others before me. 

3.  My Artistic Peers - There was a reason why famous painters from the same era's all came from the same school's of art.  Nothing is more inspiring and motivating then surrounding yourself with your contemporaries and influencing each others work.  Nowadays there is the internet to connect with people from all over the world and build a support network of emerging artists and crafters and letting their talents push my boundaries and bring new ideas.

4.  Music - I love to play music when I create and different kinds of music creates different feelings and ideas as I paint.  I love how my process changes when I am listening some old-school Tori Amos vs when I'm grooving to Jazz.  No matter what I am listening to, I always have more ideas with tunes going in the background.

5.  Nature - God's incredible creation all around us gives me boundless inspiration and ideas.  From mimicking a shape, texture, or color palette, the natural world never ceases to be the creative master at producing unexpected and original ideas.

There you have it, my 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Things About Me! Try it yourself.  Now it's your turn! Do you own 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 post to your blog or social networks site, and leave a link to it here in the comments.  I can't wait to learn about your creative process!

XO, HARMONY

The Color of Fear and the Art of Being Brave

What does Fear look like to you?  To my 3 year old son, it looks like a red frog (which we think is his word for a dragon).  For the past 3 weeks he has been insistent that his bedroom door stay closed at night, demanding that we affirm that there are "no frogs" in the house.  It's terribly cute and equally sad, as it tears at my heart to know that he is scared and I cant fix it.  For no matter how hard we insist, nor what karate chopping moves my husband displays to show what happens to scary frogs that show up, neither our dutiful efforts to distract him and never mention the "f-word."  He still starts getting nervous at night-time and repeating "no frogs, mommy.  no frogs, daddy" until we shut his bedroom door.  We've tried putting him to sleep in his room with both of us with him, and putting him to sleep in our bed and then moving him, but both senarios end in a 3am terrified dash into our bed and a burrowing little boy into my side.  So here we are, with an abandoned bed in one room, and a floor full of baby boy and blankets in our own room, trying to find a way to help him be brave. 

the abandoned room

I also have to admit my own weakness for indulging his desire to be close to mom and dad during this phase.  I too had fears as a child, and they frequently brought me to my own parent's bedroom floor to feel safe at night.  Specifically, I had a reoccurring nightmare that would frequently bring me to a jolting wake-up, body covered in sweat and heart pounding.  Nothing would console me except to leave my room and sleep where I knew my protectors were.  Eventually it went away, and I found myself sleeping peacefully again, but I never forgot that nightmare. 

About 10 years ago, I was going through a really hard time emotionally, and started painting one afternoon to distract myself from my situation.  All I had to work with was some roughly cut old wood squares, a bunch of old canvas, and some really old house paint, and so I just started layering and layering, not thinking just painting. 

 I couldnt stop for 3 days, just layering colors over colors, square after square, until I ended up with a 6 square series of black, cream, and yellow stripes.  I thought very little about them, other than I thought they looked neat, and then I arranged them in a line, stood back, and found myself holding my breath.  I had painted my childhood nightmare.

I instantly felt a peace about my own life drama at that time.  I realized I had overcome hard things in the past and fears that was never able to truly understand, and I could do it again this time and grow from it.  I found my courage in those paintings, and I keep them on my dining room wall to this day to remind me that I am strong and brave, and that I can have courage to take on whatever life sends my way.

I hope this same lesson for my son, to find his own sense of courage and place of serenity.  Right now, it's my bedroom floor and that's ok.  One day when he's ready, I hope to teach him how to use his love of art making to bring him new discoveries about his own strength and spirit that he never knew before.  What are your fears?  How has art making been healing for you in those places?  What gives you courage?

 sleep tight sweet boy...

XO, HARMONY